The Other
by Sentry785
Summary: The sky was dark on the day of the funeral. A crowd of people had gathered to celebrate the life of a hero. The Loonatics were at the front of that crowd, ringed around the grave site. As the coffin was lowered in, silence abounded. Please Review and let me know if you want more. Also, I am now available as a beta reader, so let me know if you want me to read anything.
1. Chapter 1

***DISCLAIMER*: All of the respective characters, plots, settings etc. are the property, both intellectual and non, of the respective owners of Loonatics Unleashed IP (Warner Bros. Animation) I am IN NO WAY with the owners, creators or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.**

The sky was dark on the day of the funeral. A crowd of people had gathered to celebrate the life of a hero. The Loonatics were at the front of that crowd, ringed around the grave site. As the coffin was lowered in, silence abounded. Ace, Lexi, Tech and Rev still hadn't come to terms with the loss of their team member Slam. The priest stood as the coffin reached the bottom of the hole.

"Today we honour our fallen. Slam paid the ultimate price in the line of his duty." His voice was flat, no emotion escaped. "Now to say a few words… Ace." Ace had dreaded this moment when he realised he would have to say something. He moved over to stand beside the priest, his black suit slightly dishevelled.

"Uh, ok. Slam…Slam, he was… he was my friend first and a team member second." In stark contrast to the priest, Ace's voice trembled with emotion. "H-He sacrificed himself for the team. Everyone knew him as the guy with the biggest appetite. When you got to know him, as the team did, he was the nicest person you could have met, always looking out for everyone. We'll miss you Slam, buddy." The sentiment echoed throughout the onlookers.

Ace moved back to stand with the rest of the team. As he looked at Slam's coffin lying in the hole, Ace thought of how he would never see his friend again. Tears welled in his eyes as he thought of all the times Slam had been there for him. Lexi, seeing Ace tearing up, gave him a consoling hug. As soon as he felt Lexi hugging him, he simply broke down in her arms. Lexi could only hold him as he wept uncontrollably into her shoulder. She knew exactly how Ace was feeling, Slam had been such an integral part of their lives ever since they had become The Loonatics. Having recovered somewhat, Ace let go of Lexi, breaking their contact.

"eh… thanks, Lex, I needed that." Lexi smiled and squeezed his hand reassuringly

"Yeah, me too." After the funeral service had ended, the team remained at the grave, each uttering their own personal goodbyes to their friend. Once they had finished, their next task was to pack all of Slam's personal belongings and sending them to his parents. They took their time, carefully packing all his things away, stopping as they shared memories of Slam. The packing having taken the majority of the day, the team celebrated their comrade well into the night. They returned to the tower, each going their separate ways. It had been a long day and they all just wanted it to be over.

Two months passed, and the team had mostly recovered from the loss. Slam's room had been locked off, Ace barred anyone from entering the room. Apparently, Zadavia had sent out for new Loonatics to join them. Ace had consulted with the rest of the team and agreed that any new candidates would be psychologically screened and subjected to rigorous training before they would be considered. This had been good for the team as it allowed them to focus on the upcoming arrivals, instead of wallowing in grief. Ace worked with Lexi, Duck and Rev to create and run the training course for the physical component of the test. Tech focused his efforts on the program used to screen the candidates. They had gone through many hopeful applicants, most of them miserably failing the physical training course. Some only tried to flirt with Lexi.

One particularly bold applicant had 'tripped' when he walked past Lexi. As Lexi helped him up, he cheekily asked for her number. She had smiled sweetly before she broke his hand and informed him that she wasn't looking for anybody. Tech took the tearful guy to his lab, giving him a cast and escorting him out of the tower. They had not had a candidate that had passed any of the tests.

"Maybe this one will be different," Ace baulked as Lexi appeared next to his chair. He had just been looking at each unsuccessful candidate, scrolling through disinterestedly. She must have guessed what he was thinking about.

"I doubt it, we've gone through a lot of people,"

"Yeah, there has been a lot," Lexi gave a sly smile "you never know, maybe this one will be cute." Ace gave her a quizzical look.

"Really? That's what you're looking at?"

"No! it's just a bonus, that's all." Ace rolled his eyes and went back to scrolling through the failed candidates. Unfortunately, she noticed. "Don't you roll your eyes at me Ace Bunny!" Ace smiled, still scrolling.

"As long as we get someone who isn't there to just hit on you and can actually past the physical obstacle course… I'll be happy." Lexi appraised him. He was still a little shaken up by Slam. There had been a couple of candidates that were fit to take the psychological screening, but Ace had flat out refused. He told them they were just not the right fit for the team. That was nonsense. He just didn't want anyone else dying under his command.

"Ace..." she placed a hand on his arm, "Slam doesn't blame you. The team doesn't blame you. I don't blame you." Ace stared straight at the screen. His arms shook slightly.

"I can't get it out of my head. Explosions everywhere, those robots running us down into the ground. I'm on the ground, bleeding and bruised, staring one of them straight in the eyes. He raises his weapon, ready to fire," his voice trembled as all the emotions he felt came rushing back. "Next thing I know, Slam's lying face down in the dirt with a massive hole in his chest, bleeding out beside me." Lexi didn't interrupt or try to reassure him, she just listened as he let it all out.

Clearing his throat, Ace stood up and placed the tablet back in its rightful place. Looking around, he noticed just how unkept the tower had become.

"Hey Lex, you mind getting everyone else in here? Can't be making a bad first impression on our newest possible applicant." Noticing the change of tone in his voice, Lexi quickly gathered everyone around the table as Ace relayed instructions to the team. Within minutes they were up and about, working on making the tower look brand new. After hours of tireless work, Ace called a halt to inspect their handiwork.

"Alright gang, this looks pretty good. Even if I do say so myself." Everyone was beaming proudly. This was the first time since Slam's death they had all worked cohesively as a team. They had finally moved on and a comfortable silence fell over them. The harsh 'ping' of the elevator arriving shattered it. Everyone turned as the elevator doors slid smoothly open and a snow-white bunny strode confidently out. He took in the Loonatics immediately and offered a casual, lopsided grin.

"Hi, you're the Loonatics, right? I'm Jason, your newest member."

 **Note:** Thanks for reading please review and let me know what you think and if you want to see more. If you like this try my other stories Let's get out of here, Better Late than Never and my other chapter based story Expendable


	2. Chapter 2

The Loonatics all swapped uneasy looks. The snow-white bunny remained where he was, still smiling lopsidedly and waiting calmly. Ace stepped forward, addressing the waiting figure.

"Hey, uh... John, right?" The bunny tilted his head lazily giving him that casual grin.

"Jason"

"Jason… right. Anyway, listen buddy. We-" Ace motioned towards the rest of his team. "-Just don't let anyone in. There is a rigorous physical and psychological screening that you have to pass." Duck chose this moment to butt in.

"And even if you do pass them, having a superpower is kinda essential you know." Ace sighed inwardly as Lexi swiftly slapped Duck across the back of his head. "Ow… watch the feathers!" Luckily Jason seemed unoffended by Duck's bluntness.

"Yeah about that… I was gonna tell you guys once I passed, but I guess I might as well let you guys know now." Ace raised his eyebrow sharply.

"Tell us what?" Jason met his eyes calmly and coolly. They were deep brown and highly unsettling.

"I can pretty much read your thoughts." He smiled slyly at The Loonatics, mostly directing it at Lexi "and I must say… you're certainly intriguing." Lexi's face turned a brilliant shade of red. The others all shifted uncomfortably. Ace kept up a friendly façade, his smile tight.

"Alright then, why don't we get you started with the obstacle course. Tech would you mind showing Jason to the obstacle course?" Tech started moving towards the training room, Rev and Duck fell in step with him. Jason followed them, smirking as he passed Lexi. Ace watched him go. Once they were alone, he turned to Lexi. "What do you think?"

"Well, he's not that bad looking." Ace raised an eyebrow. She smiled cheekily "I'm kidding! He seems alright if a little cocky. His power certainly is interesting."

"As well as dangerous." Lexi shrugged.

"All our powers are dangerous, we may just have to take that risk." Ace had to concede that point.

"I suppose we'll just have to wait for the screening result to come back then discuss it with everyone else." He started off in the direction of his room "Anyway, I'm taking this fine opportunity to get a decent rest." Lexi flopped down on the couch, turned on the television and let it wash over her.

Tech sat in his lab, pouring over the screening results for the fifth time. He was sure there had been a mistake. Not with the physical portion, that all checked out. It was the psychological evaluation. He had calibrated it to test applicants for any forms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, any personality disorders or anxiety. Jason had passed with flying colours. That wasn't the issue. Tech had also thrown in some other general knowledge and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) questions to hide the true purpose of the tests. Jason had an IQ of two hundred. Tech was considered a genius by anyone who worked with or knew him, his IQ was only one hundred and sixty. He was mulling the implications of this development over as the door to his lab slid open seamlessly. Paying it no attention, he continued inspecting the findings.

"Hey doc, whatcha thinking about?" Tech spun around as Jason leant against one of the tables in his lab. Jason chuckled at Tech's surprise. "Stupid question, I already know." He tapped the side of his head. "Anyway, I've got nothing else to do so I thought I'd give you guys a hand with stuff."

Tech raised an eyebrow. Seeing Jason was serious, he directed him to his latest invention, or what would be his latest invention. It was a round cylindrical object, with a large spike at one end. A transparent plastic bulb was at the opposite end. One of the panels from the side of the cylinder had been removed, the wires were spilt out with other internal components spread around the workbench.

"Now my latest invention, a personal kinetic energy diffraction barrier device, basically a forcefield. I've been working on it for a couple of months now, unfortunately, I've been unable to achieve a satisfactory strength of the barrier." Jason coolly assessed the disembowelled forcefield device.

"How long have you been trying to fix this issue?"

Tech hated having to admit when he couldn't solve a problem by himself. "I've been trying for five weeks," Jason smirked as he leant close to Tech's ear

"Have you tried attaching the plasma to the output unit directly?" Tech eyes widened. How could he have not seen that before?

"That would stop them from having to share power, which was weakening the barrier." With an exaggerated bow, Jason left him to fix his device, pausing at the door.

"Oh, by the way, Tech," Tech looked up. "The test's actually wrong. It's two hundred and ten." Flashing his lazy smile Jason left.

Lexi was lying by herself on the roof of the tower. It was her favourite spot to just come late in the day and just unwind. It had been a long day, she really needed a breather. The new guy had turned out to be way more interesting than she had expected. After her chat with Ace, she had just waited for the physical trial to finish. She must have dozed off because next thing she was waking up to Duck and Rev arguing about what show to watch. They told her how the trial had gone. Jason had blitzed it, coming second only to Rev. That had surprised her. He hadn't looked real athletic. But then again looks could be deceiving. The only thing that worried her about Jason was his power. Despite what she had told Ace when Jason had said he could read their thoughts she had realised that he knew what she thought of him and of the others. Luckily Ace hadn't noticed her reaction otherwise he may have been curious why she was blushing. She didn't know how he would react if she told him how she felt about him. Lexi pushed that out of her mind as she took in the beautiful landscape. The setting sun reflected off all the glass from the surrounding buildings, giving everything an orange tinge. Looking out past the city, she could see the calm stillness of the ocean, smooth and untouched. It was amazing. Lexi was snapped out of her musings as someone sprawled on the ground beside her. Glancing in that direction, she saw it was Jason.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" He was staring into the middle distance, seemingly lost in the picturesque scenery.

"Yeah. It really is." Jason glanced at Lexi, who was still enthralled by the view.

"Listen, you know after this do you maybe wanna grab a couple of drinks?" Lexi baulked at the suggestion

"What?! No, we're teammates it wouldn't be professional." Jason bit back hard.

"You wouldn't say that same thing to Ace."

"What? That's ridiculous! He's the team leader, it would be even more unprofessional!" Jason just smirked at her excuses

"I can read your mind remember? I know how you feel about him and I know how he feels about you and honestly, you're wasting your time." Lexi's couldn't hide her disappointment. Ace didn't feel the same way she did. Jason leant in close staring straight into her eyes.

"I also know you find me attractive, so why wait?" As he leant in even closer, Lexi shifted back ever so slightly, hoping somehow, she could get out of this terrible situation. He drew closer until their lips brushed against each other. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught someone standing in the doorway leading back down from the roof. As she turned to look at the figure, she realised it was Ace. Blushing profusely, she stood abruptly dusting herself down and pulling away from Jason, who for his part offered Ace his usual cocky smile.

Ace stood unmoving, arms crossed and clearly vexed. He was silent for a few moments before he spoke.

"Lexi, you know how we all feel about this. You know how these sorts of things end."

"I didn't see her pulling away anytime soon." Ace turned to the white bunny, staring him down. He remained unbowed.

"Jason, please just let me talk to _my_ second in command. The team will be voting on whether you will be accepted or not." The tone of his voice brooked no argument. With a wink at Lexi, he left leaving Ace and Lexi alone.

"Ace, it wasn't my fault! I was just sitting up here and out of the blue he showed up and kissed me!" she decided to omit that Jason had told her how Ace felt.

"Lex… I'm- I- What I'm trying to say is-" Ace looked out at the view. "-You know what, we can talk about this later. Now let's go vote." Lexi just nodded, wondering what he had been trying to say. Ace turned and left the rooftop, only to run into Jason in the corridor leading to the loungeroom.

"Hey Ace, can I talk to you?"

"Uh, sure what is it?" Jason cast furtive glances around to ensure they were alone.

"Not here." He gestured to the room closest to them. "Your room would be better." Puzzled, Ace lead him into his room.

"Okay, what did you what to tell me?" Jason rubbed the back of his head sheepishly

"Well, I kinda forgot to mention my other power." Ace's eyebrows shot up.

"Really? Okay, then what is it." There was a pause before he got a response

"Well uh… it's hard to explain. You see I can- Oh dropped your pen." Ace frowned

"I didn't bring in a pe-" The last few words were cut off as Jason rose from a crouched position, closing the distance and sliding a small penknife in between Ace's ribs. A cruel smile spread across his face as he removed the knife and watched as Ace tried feebly to staunch the blood flowing from the vicious wound. He stumbled back against the wall and slowly slid down into a sitting position, eyes wide from shock, hands desperately clasped against his side. Jason crouched down next to Ace, his voice barely above a whisper

"I can do…this." He pressed a single finger against Ace's forehead. Immediately Jason began to change, growing the same size and height of Ace. Then his fur changed colour from its usual snow white to a light grey. Suddenly there were two identical bunnies, one slumped against the wall, bleeding, and the other crouching next to him. An evil perverse grin spread across Jason's face as he slowly stood and turned his back on the semiconscious bunny. Ace, his body rapidly shutting down, managed to croak

"Why are you doing this?" Jason barely paused next to the door before replying

"Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise." He left the room as Ace lost his battle and slipped into unconsciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

No sooner had Jason left Ace's room when he collided with Lexi. She fell on her backside with a slight cry of surprise. Jason quickly offered his hand, which Lexi accepted gratefully.

"Oh, sorry Ace I didn't see you there."

"huh? Oh yeah, that's alright Lexi." He subtly ran his eyes over her. She looked amazing, even in that ridiculous jumpsuit they wore all the time. His eyes were drawn straight to her curves, the jumpsuit only accentuating them.

"Did you see where Jason went? The vote starts soon." A cold sweat broke out on his forehead

"Vote? Wh-what vote?" Lexi raised an eyebrow.

"you know… the vote… on whether we accept Jason. Ring any bells?" Jason gave a slight laugh as his panic subsided.

"Oh yeah, of course. Well, we should get going then shouldn't we?" Lexi rolled her eyes. "But yeah, I haven't seen Jason. I think he just needs some time to cool off."

"huh, you'd think he'd want to know straight away what our decision is." They had both started making their way towards the team briefing room. As they continued in a companionable silence Lexi shot a glance at him before venturing; "Ace… on the roof… what you were going to say, is it about Slam?"

"Uh... yeah, yeah. It was a shame to lose him, I'm going to miss him." Lexi remained silent as they entered the meeting room.

Compared to the common room and other shared spaces in the tower, it was extremely sparse. The centre of the room held a large circular table with six chairs positioned around it. In the centre of the table was the projector Zadavia used to contact the team. Control panels and screens covered the far wall ceiling to floor. The defence grid, as Tech eagerly explained on the tour, was an invention of his own design. It used the various powers of the Loonatics to protect the tower. The others had taken their seats around the table as Jason took in his surroundings. Jason slid into the seat closest to him, looking up as the others fell silent. Rev shifted uncomfortably.

"What?" Jason gave a lazy grin. "Do I have something on my face?" Lexi's face was puzzled.

"Ace… That's Slam's spot." Jason silently cursed his mistake.

"Oh yeah, my mistake." He stood up and shifted to the other empty seat. "Been one of those days." He gave a small laugh. Lexi shot him a suspicious glance before addressing the table.

"As you know, no one can join the team without a unanimous decision. Jason's been with us for a couple of weeks now and I personally don't see any reason why he shouldn't join us." Duck jumped in.

"I like him. I feel he and I share a bond, I vote he joins." Tech snorted.

"That's only because you want someone else that will swoon over Misty Breeze with you."

"I do not swoon over Misty Breeze. I simply admire such an authentic, successful and resourceful journalist. You have not seen one as talented, as graceful and as accomplished as Mist-" Tech rolled his eyes and clamped a paw across the mallard's beak.

"Anyway, I also vote for letting Jason join. He's helped me around the lab and I could definitely use the extra help." Rev could only nod his head at a frightening pace. The only one left was Jason. As the others turned to him, Jason collected his thought. He would need to execute his plan perfectly.

"I don't think Jason is the right fit for the team." Tech spat out the water he had just drunk. Duck spluttered, wiping the mixture of coyote spit and water off his face.

"That's only because you're jealous of him." Jason adopted a surprised look.

"What do you mean by _that_ Duck?" The mallard scoffed.

"We've all seen how you look at Lexi… and how she looks at Jason." Lexi bristled uncomfortably. Rev came to her defence.

"At least she isn't married to her right hand!" Duck was on his feet in an instant, hands ablaze. Rev, just as ready, leapt to his feet. They eyed each other warily. The room was silent for mere seconds before the two lunged at each other, hurling insults at each other. Lexi dragged Rev away from the table while Tech restrained Duck against the wall with his magnetic powers. Jason watched as the two snarled and struggled to break free… and he smiled. _His plan was going perfectly_.

Consciousness returned slowly to Ace. As his eyes opened, he glanced around and was surprised to find himself leaning against the wall in his room. He tried to rise, wincing as his left side exploded in pain. Looking down, he pulled the hand away from his side. Both his hand and the left side of his shirt were covered in blood. As he placed his hand back over his side, he was shocked by the snow-white fur covering the back of his hand. Suddenly, it all came flooding back to him. _Jason and Lexi on the roof. Jason asking to talk to me. A sharp pain in my side then he morphed to look like-_ The realisation dawned on Ace. _Lexi and the team don't know about him. I have to warn them!_

With a grimace of pain, he slowly hauled himself to his feet using the wall to steady himself. His side was on fire as he hobbled towards the door. He leaned heavily against the wall, breathing heavily as the doors slid open. He stumbled into the hallway, using the wall to stop himself. He made his way towards the control room where the imposter undoubtedly was. His head swam slightly as he crossed the common room and he once again had to stop. The pain in his side had moved all the way to his chest and he felt like he had just run a marathon. As he pushed off the wall, everything blurred suddenly and he crashed to the floor. Looking upwards, he saw Rev and Duck at each other's throats while Jason smiled as he watched the others try to separate them. Dark spots flashed in front of his eyes as he managed to croak out to his team.

'Lexi… Lexi help me' His energy spent making this far Ace let his head drop to the floor. Lexi's super hearing picked up his plea above the arguing of the others. Confused, she turned in the direction of the sound and saw Ace.

'Oh my god, Jason!' She rushed over to where he lay. She saw the blood leaking from his side and tore his shirt off, placing both hands on the wound and applied pressure to slow down the bleeding. 'He's been stabbed!' Tech dropped Duck and rushed to her side.

'He's bleeding quite heavily. Keep your hands pressed tight against the wound. Ace, help me carry him to my lab.' Jason didn't move. Rev dashed next to Tech and grabbed Ace's body as Lexi kept pressure on the wound. The three of them rushed to Tech's lab, Duck following close behind shooting Jason a dirty look before he left. Jason stared at the spot where Ace's body had been moments before and silently cursed.

'This could be a problem.'

Jason sat at the desk in Ace's room. He was busy tinkering with Tech's forcefield device. Looking more closely at the internal workings of the device he wasn't surprised the coyote hadn't been able to get it to work. Wires had been spliced together haphazardly and crammed into the metal housing. The power output unit was so close to the plasma canister that idiot was lucky it hadn't exploded in his face. As he tinkered, heavy metal music blared from the small speakers installed in the desk. He discovered that it helped him by making him block out the aggressive music and focus solely on the task at hand. He had just finished his tinkering and had replaced the components in the housing and screwed the cover plate back on when he saw a figure out of the corner of his eye. He cursed silently. He couldn't afford any type of distraction with his plan in its final stages, especially with Ace's timely appearance. He would have liked more time to work on the team itself. Duck and Rev were child's play, Tech was a glorified backyard inventor at best. Ace had been harder to manipulate then expected but had been no less predictable. He just had to play on Ace's fear that Lexi loved someone else and he was like a puppet on a string. That kiss had been made even sweeter with Ace walking in on them. He could practically hear his heart break in two. The fact Lexi found him attractive was irrelevant to his plan, though she would have to be dealt with sooner than planned. Pushing that aside, he spun in his chair to face whoever was in the room. It was Lexi. _Speak of the devil._ He adopted a faux smile.

"Hey Lexi, what's the matter?" Lexi smiled sweetly back at him and motioned towards the speakers.

"Your music is really loud." She indicated her ears. "Super hearing, remember?" Jason reached across and turned the volume down on the speakers.

"So, anything else I can help you with cause I'm quite busy here-" Lexi cut him off, her tone matter of fact.

"The Ace I know would've rushed to Jason's side straight away." Her tone had subtly changed as she stared coldly at Jason. "The Ace I know wouldn't forget where everyone sits, wouldn't just dismiss Slam offhand." Jason shrugged his shoulders.

"What can I say? I've been busy trying to find a replacement for Slam and now this business with you and Jason…" He left the sentence hanging. The barb was intended to knock her off balance. She refused to take the bait and smiled down at him.

"I could accept that if it was in isolation, but there is one fact that simply cannot be explained at all." A small seed of unease started to grow inside Jason, although he kept his expression as neutral as possible.

"And what is that fact." Lexi leaned in slowly until their noses almost brushed against each other.

"Ace hates heavy metal music." Jason sprang from his seat and slammed her against the wall. His face was distorted into a violent sneer. As he gripped her arms his fur flickered from grey to snow white and back again multiple times.

"I wish you hadn't done that Lexi. I like you. You're intelligent, athletic and funny. In different circumstances, we'd make quite a team. Who knows, we could have been more than that." He buried his face in her neck and inhaled deeply. Lexi whimpered and struggled in vain to escape from his iron grip. As Jason pulled his head away from her neck, she delivered a vicious headbutt to his nose. Blood exploded across his face as he instinctively reached for his nose, releasing Lexi in the process. Lexi pushed him away and followed up with a sharp kick to his stomach. Jason doubled over in pain as he struggled to breathe, looking up as Lexi made a break for the door. He grabbed the forcefield device and hurled it with all his might at the fleeing bunny. It connected with the back of her head with a sickening crunch. She collapsed mid-stride, mere feet from the door. Jason stumbled over holding his stomach with dried blood covering his face. Looking down at Lexi, he smiled.

"Now the real fun begins."


End file.
